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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
Heä was the god of chaos, or the deep; he was the king of the abyss who determines destinies. In later times he was also called the god of the waters, and from him some of the attributes of Neptune may be derived. It was said that Chaos was his wife.
In later mythology, however, Nin-ci-gal, instead of Chaos, was the wife of Heä, She was the “ lady of the mighty country,” and the “ queen of the dead.” This goddess may have been the prototype of Proserpine, who was carried away by Pluto in his golden chariot to be the queen of Hades.
Sin is a word which signifies brightness, and it was the name borne by the moon- god, who was the father of Ishtar or Ashtaroth. A golden tablet found in the cornerstone of a palace or temple, at Khorsabad, contains an account of the splendid temples which King Sargon II. built in a town near Nineveh and dedicated to Heä, Sin, the moon-god; Chemosh, the sun-god; and Ninip, the god of forces.
Heä-bani was represented as a satyr with the legs, head and tail of an ox. This figure occurs very frequently on the gems, and may always be recognized by these characteristics. He is doubtless the original of Mendes, the goat-formed god of Egypt, and also of Pan, the goat-formed god of the Arcadian herdsmen, with his pipe of seven reeds.
Nergal was the patron deity of Cutha. He was the god of bows and arms. According to Dr. Oppert, Nergal represented the planet Mars, and hence the Grecian god of war appears to have been merely a perpetuation of this early deity.
Bel-Merodach, or Marduk, had a splendid temple, which, according to the inscriptions, was built by Nebuchadnezzar, with its costly woods, its silver and molten gold and precious stones.
It is from the name of the god Nebo that the name of King Nebuchadnezzar was derived. In a ten-column inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, which now forms a part of the India Office collection, the king speaks of building a temple in Babylon “to Nebo of lofty intelligence.” Even the portico of the shrine of Nebo was covered with gold, and many dazzling gems were used in the decoration of the temple.
Ninip, the lord of strong actions, finds an echo in Hercules of Grecian mythology, who received his bow from Apollo, his sword from Mercury,'his golden breastplate from Vulcan, his horses from Neptune, and his robe from Minerva.
The Assyrian Dagon was usually associated with Anü, the sky-god, and the worship of both was carried as far west as Canaan.
Of Moloch little is said upon the tablets except the very significant statement that “he took the children,” but a curious fragment of an old Accadian poem indicates that the children of these highlanders were offered as burnt offerings in very early times. It will be remembered that the Mosaic law was especially severe upon this “abomination” of human sacrifices, the death penalty being ordered for every such offense.
Chemosh was the sun-god who was often worshiped as the supreme, while his early worshipers sang praises, offered sacrifices and performed incantations. The success of Mesha, the King of Moab, in his revolt against the King of Israel, was commemorated by the erection of the celebrated Moabite stone, whereon was recorded the inscription ascribing his victory to Chemosh, his favorite deity. But the hideous idols of the sun-god that occupied the palatial temples of Chemosh at Larsam, in Southern Chaldea, and at Sippara, in the north of Babylonia, became more refined in the poetry of the Vedas, and he appeared in the mythology of the Hindus as Snrya, the god of day, who rode across the heavens in a car drawn by milk-white horses.
In this pantheon of mythology Im was the god of the sky, sometimes called Rimmon, the god of lightning and storms. He is represented among the Hindus as Indra, who furiously drives his tawny steeds to the battle of the elements. With the Greeks and Latins he was personated by Zeus and Jupiter, “ the cloud-compelling Jove,” while among the Northmen he wears the form of Thor, whose frown is the gathering of the storm clouds, and whose angry voice echoes in the thunderbolt.